(I want to know) if you can get to that?

May 7, 2016May 7, 2016

#97. Alain Goraguer – ‘Deshominisation’ (1973)

It’s what the future sounds like.

I could get heavy on some sort of allegory for the evils of humankind, which you could sort of read La Planete Sauvage, the 1973 animated science-fiction film this cut comes from, as, but I’ll try and contain myself. We’re here to talk about Alain Gorageur’s instrumental rock soundtrack, which ranges from spacey prog to jazz fusion to more traditional, orchestral film music, and even to patches of funk and soul. This coupled with some pretty psychedelic visuals and the narrative of a human uprising in a world dominated by giant, blue humanoids called Draags, who treat the humans like humans treat vermin, the film’s a vivid and sometimes quite intense sensory experience.

I felt like some of the jazzier moments of the soundtrack didn’t quite complement the tone of the story or the visuals as much as the spacier, more psychedelic moments did, which admittedly is more what people are used to when we’re talking ’70s sci-fi and horror film soundtracks. Watching humans being exterminated like ants to some wah-wah guitar riff that almost sounds like it could be from Willie Dynamite can be a bit jarring….but I guess that’s the point.

The spacey ‘Deshominisation’ soundtracks a scene early in the film featuring a mother and baby being tormented like one might play with an insect one finds on their floor. This was one of the moments in the film where I felt the soundtrack and the trippy visuals best complemented each other, so here we are. Highly recommend both the soundtrack and the film.